


Takeout

by fairietailed



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, I just ran away from home but this is definitely NOT my best friends apartment AU, Like Lots, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 12:03:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6194458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairietailed/pseuds/fairietailed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy turned, prepared to tell Levy in great detail the incredible journey she'd taken to get there, but stopped.</p>
<p>Because the person in front of her was definitely not Levy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Lucy was fuming.

An hour train ride, three hours by bus and a 20 minute cab ride with a stuffed backpack, uncomfortable shoes, and a dead phone was all she could take before she practically collapsed at Levy’s doorstep. She’d told Levy about an hour ago where she was, but her phone had died not even 2 minutes later so Lucy had no way of telling her when she got to her place. Hopefully Levy was home. She sighed and knocked, ready to be inside of a house (or apartment in this case), maybe order take out, and not move for the next 3 days.

The door opened and she pushed her way in, dropping her bag once she got the living room.

“You will not believe this,” she started, pulling out her phone and immediately digging through her bag on the floor looking for her charger. “You will not believe what I had to go through to get here. So this lady was sitting behind me on the bus, right? And she had this screaming kid. And I mean _screaming_. He wouldn’t stop! Something about pancakes. And then, _then_ , this kid starts kicking my seat. Like full on kicking!”

At this point she’d found an outlet by the kitchen and taken a seat at one of the barstools, plugging her phone in and resting her elbow on the counter, dropping her chin into her hand as she continued

“So this mom did nothing to stop him. And I’m here going crazy. This kid will not stop and the mom is just sitting there silent. So finally, I turn around in my chair and face her, and you know what I say?“

Lucy turned toward Levy, ready to explain in full detail the incredible act of silencing this woman’s child, but he stopped short.

Because the person standing in front of her was not Levy.

It was, instead, a guy about her age. He was staring at her. Pink hair, eyes wide, hand still on the doorknob of the door he had opened moments ago. Lucy was very confused, and very, very embarrassed.

“Well, what did you say?”

The question seemed to bring her to her senses. Lucy practically fell off of the barstool, clamoring back into the kitchen. 

“I’m… I’m in the wrong apartment.” She choked out the words, bumping into the cabinets behind her.

She’d been to Levy’s apartment before, and this definitely was not it. She stared at the guy, color drained from her face, and he stared back. He took a step towards her, arm out like she was a frightened animal he was trying to coax out of hiding.

“I kinda figured… You must be freaking out right now.”

She could only nod her head. He nodded back.

“I thought so. Well, it’s okay. I’m not going to do anything crazy, so you can relax if you want. What’s your name?”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she sank slowly to the floor. She brought her knees to her chest.

“Lucy,” she started, her voice cracking halfway through. “My name is Lucy.”

“Lucy, that’s a nice name,” the guy sat down next to her, careful not to get too close. “I’m Natsu. Are you… okay? You can leave if you want. Or use my phone if yours is still dead? Or… I dunno… I have chips if you’re hungry, I guess?”

Lucy turned to face him, and Natsu realized in one sickeningly slow moment that she was going to cry. Oh, God. This girl he’d never met who just burst into his apartment was about to cry, and he had no idea what to-

She cried.

She cried very hard, and very loud. Her face all screwed up in misery, tears ran down the sides of her cheeks. She threw her head back and wailed, shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Natsu sat next to her, completely clueless as to what to do to help.

She fell sideways, dropping all of her weight onto his shoulder. He jumped a little, and took the risk of putting his arm around her as she continued sobbing.

“I-I-I ran awaaaaaaaaay,” Lucy’s muffled voice came from his shoulder, “I ran away from home and I have nowhere to go. I was suh… supposed to go to Lev…y’s house b-but I don’t know where she lives. I th-thought she lived h…ere but obvious-sly she doesn’t and now I d-don’t know what to do. I’m miserable and it took me 4 hours t-to get here and I h-have no m-money and my dad hates me and m-my feet hurt and my b-back is killing me and I j-j-just want to sleeeeeeep and eat take out and somehow I ended up h-here and you p-probably hate me and I’m just so tired.”

Lucy hiccupped, sniffing loudly as she sat up, eyes red and puffy. She had tear stains down her cheeks, and Natsu sat silent for a moment as he took in everything she had just sobbed into his t-shirt.

He stood, moving out of the kitchen. Lucy watched, a crumpled and sniffing heap on the tiled floor. When he came back, he brought his cell phone and a take-out menu.

“Anything you want,” he said. He handed her the menu, and she took it with wide eyes. “Anything you want. It’s on me.”

“N-no, I can’t-,” she began to protest, but he stopped her.

“I was getting hungry anyway. Come on. At least until your phone is finished charging so you can call your friend. I don’t want to eat alone anyway.”

Lucy pulled the menu to her chest, looking up at him.

“I…. Thank you. And I’m sorry for… all of this.”

Natsu shrugged, seemingly unphased. “We’ve all had days like this. It’s no big deal. Plus, believe it or not, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

Lucy laughed for the first time all day, opening the menu while Natsu moved to sit on the floor next to her.

Maybe finding the wrong apartment wasn’t such a bad thing after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You look really nice, you know. Beautiful.”
> 
> He saw her cheeks flush, and she smiled.
> 
> “Thank you. You look pretty handsome, yourself.” She tilted her head to the side in thought, lacing her arm with his.
> 
> He thought right then that his heart may burst.

“So, Lu, are you going to seal the deal tonight?” Levy moved to sit cross-legged on Lucy’s bed, a yogurt in one hand and a spoon in the other. She watched Lucy as she searched for an outfit.

Lucy’s face flushed as she whirled around to face her friend, a few shirts she wanted to try on in her hands.

“Levy,” she began, pulling the shirts to her chest as her friend began wiggling her eyes suggestively. “I cannot believe you! I haven’t even known this guy for a month yet!”

“Yeah, but you met him by breaking into his house and he _still_ wants to see you. What more could you ask for?” Levy took a bite of her yogurt, smiling through the spoon.

“I… I didn’t break in!” she threw one of the tops at Levy’s face, the girl too busy laughing to defend herself. “I just thought it was your place! And besides, I spent most of the first part of me being there crying.”

“Yeah,” Levy continued through another mouthful of yogurt, “but then you spent the rest of the night eating Chinese food and watching Netflix. You didn’t call me for a good 3 hours after you got to his house, and even then you didn’t leave right away. You got there at 6 and left at 11! Lu, normal people don’t do that unless they have a reason to.”

Lucy’s face grew an even darker shade of red. It was a valid point; she had stayed a lot longer than she had originally planned. But then again, she never even expected to end up at his apartment in the first place, so technically any time spent there would be longer than planned. 

And it was true, they had ordered enough take-out for 5 people and marathoned Doctor Who on Netflix, talking about their lives and their friends and their families like they’d known each other for years. She’d never felt as comfortable with anyone as she did with Natsu, except for maybe Levy.

And as it turned out, Levy lived in the apartment directly above Natsu. So Lucy, who was currently living with her friend, had seem him quite often in the month she’d been there. In the laundry room, getting the mail, even down at the super market. Lucy seemed to bump into him everywhere, and he always greeted her with the biggest smile and warmest hugs of anyone Lucy had ever met.

She would go down to his apartment often, and they’d watch movies and cook dinner and talk for hours before she’d head back up to Levy’s. And then two days ago, while in the middle of an episode of X-Files, Natsu had asked her to dinner. On a date. And Lucy nearly died right then and there.

So here she was, panicking over what to wear, her best friend smirking at her knowingly, which Lucy hated. But what she hated more was the fact that none of her clothes seemed to look right. She needed to look great for tonight, and none of these outfits made her look even half-way decent.

She moved across the room to her bed, falling face first next to Levy. She groaned into the pillow her face was in, and kicked her feet in a mock-tantrum.

“It’s okay, Lu. You’ll find something. And if you don’t, you could always go naked. I’m sure he’d love that- OW!” she laughed as Lucy pinched her thigh, lifting her head off the pillow just enough for her to talk normally.

“Shut up, Lev. Or I’ll send Gajeel some of those pictures I took of you the other night.”

She snorted with laughter while Levy’s face turned bright red as she turned back to her yogurt silently.

* * *

Natsu stood outside of the restaurant, looking out for Lucy and something to do with his hands. He decided putting them in his pockets was lame, and he didn’t have anything to do while he waited. So he leaned against the wall, watching people walk past him hurriedly.

He looked down at his outfit again, getting nervous and now _really_ wishing he had something to do with his hands. He’d never been on an official fancy date before. He didn’t know what the proper etiquette for this kind of stuff was.

He bet Lucy had been on tons of dates. She was so pretty, and funny, and smart, and nice… She was perfect. So he was sure she had tons of guys wanting to take her on dates and buy her nice presents. He was sure she’d realize how lame he was and leave. Probably mid-date. And he couldn’t even buy her any nice presents or anything. He fixed fire extinguishers for a living; he barely had enough extra money for things as it was. But Lucy… She deserved nice things. Plus, growing up in that big fancy house, she was probably used to nice things.

He shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind. He couldn’t focus on that right now. He needed to focus on tonight, and what was in front of him now. And as he looked up, what was currently in front of him was Lucy.

She was smiling, her hair pulled up in a messy bun, her little black dress accenting all of the right curves. He could tell she was wearing heels, because she could look him in the eye without having to look up at him through her eyelashes. A small part of him was disappointed in this. He really enjoyed when she did that.

“Hi Luce,” he smiled at her, his grin nearly reaching his ears. She grinned back.

“Hi Natsu.”

“You ready?” he held the door open and she did a slight curtsey, laughing. His heart swelled, and he tripped after her, closing the door behind him. “You look really nice, you know. Beautiful.”

He saw her cheeks flush, and she smiled.

“Thank you. You look pretty handsome, yourself.” She tilted her head to the side in thought, lacing her arm with his.

He thought right then that his heart may burst.

They were seated in the back of the restaurant, Lucy ordering a wine and Natsu some kind of imported beer. He wasn’t sure from where. It was most likely somewhere fancy.

“This place is really nice,” Lucy leaned across the table and whispered over her menu. Natsu nodded furiously, eyebrows raised.

“I don’t even know what language this menu is written in, to be completely honest. And these prices are insane. 25 bucks for a piece of fish over some rice? Jesus…”

Lucy covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a laugh. She looked at Natsu, and then to the door.

“Do you wanna get out of here? We can go somewhere cheaper. Our drinks haven’t shown up yet, I don’t even like fish very much.”

Natsu couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed in the fact that she didn’t seem to like his choice in restaurant. Their date hadn’t even started and he was already screwing up. But he had to agree, there was no way he could afford this place. So he nodded and stood up, reaching for her hand.

“Alright then, where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere is fine! I saw a McDonalds down the street, actually, if you maybe wanted to go there?” she took his hand and stood, leading him towards the door. He noticed she didn’t let go of his hand once they made it outside. Her hand felt nice wrapped in his, and he didn’t want to let go anytime soon.

“Hey, Luce, sorry the restaurant was disappointing. I just thought you deserved to go somewhere really fancy and nice for our first date, is all.” He stopped walking, and so did she. She didn’t let go of his hand.

Lucy stepped towards him, and reached with her empty hand to grab his. She smiled at him, and he was suddenly glad she was in heels. He could see her face perfectly, and it took his breath away.

“Natsu, I love that you cared enough to take me somewhere nice like that. I really do! But it was just very expensive, and I think the both of us could use the money for other, more important things. I’m just happy to be with you tonight, is all. We could go back to your place right now and curl up on the couch with take-out like we do every week and I would still be Just as happy as I would be at some fancy restaurant.”

He stared at her, eyes wide, taking in everything she’d just said. A smile grew on his face, and he pulled his hands away from hers. She began to protest, but was silenced as she felt his hands move to her cheeks, pulling her towards him.

If Natsu had thought he would burst before, that was nothing compared to the way he felt as he kissed Lucy.

She melted into him, her arms circling his neck. His hands moved to her waist, pulling her body closer, and he could feel her smile through their kisses. He was the happiest he’d ever been in that moment, and he never wanted it to end.

When it finally did end, though, Lucy was the first to speak.

“Let’s go back to your place. We can go out another night.”

Natsu only smiled, and kissed her again. And again, and again, and again, until she was smiling and giggling and eventually full-out laughing, half-heartedly pushing him off of her and smacking is arm lightly.

He took her hand and she laced their fingers together, and Natsu knew this was exactly where he wanted to be forever.

Because it was always more fun when they were together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used the worst line at the end of this I am the wooooorst!
> 
> Thank you for reading, though! Comments are greatly appreciated!


End file.
